So, I don’t get a chance to use streaming video players much anymore, with a pretty good bookmark system built up, and being addicted to itunes (especially since the whole ‘Genius’ thing) I just don’t need the clutter, but if you do, and you’re looking for that sort of thing here are a few thoughts and options.

I’ve done a decent amount of trash talking about real player in the past, but in thinking about streaming video, I had to go back and check it out. It’s still horrible. Don’t get it. It’s a crappy version of Itunes.

Adobe Media Player. I am a big fan of Adobe products anyway but their media player is a boon to both fans of video and developers alike. The player is chock full of content right when you open it up. It’s got Diggnation on the same page as Gattaca, Scobleizer on the same page as Lawrence of Arabia. There are 44 genres in the catalog, and a huge amount of content that I guarantee you’ve never seen before. One of the nice things about this player is that it is seriously developer friendly. If you create content and it’s at all polished you can go here, and have it posted to the player. As with everything Adobe does, the use is intuitive and the design is slick.

FLV Player If you’re looking for a quick solution without any bells and whistles, this might be it. You can’t customize the playback too much, but it’s lightweight, easy to use and pretty free of bugs and it’s open source, which is always good. If you’ve never used a media player, you should still be able to use this. You’ll be able to change the volume, size, and where you are on the feed. If you need something more, check this out.

VLC is the best. If you can’t run it, you must be working on a casio calculator, it can read just about any format, it’s got plugins for just every major OS,it’s free, and it’s open source. I just don’t see how to beat it. As I’ve said before, it’s got all the functions a newbie would need, and enough to keep a tweaker happy. If you want a player that you won’t have to replace for a while, this is it.

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